The Failure Of The "Big Store" Mode Is A Bottleneck.

　　 Me&City Huaihailu Road flagship store closes

ZARA has a group of pious apprentices in China. Smith Barney It is one of the most diligent members. In order to learn ZARA After the launch of ME&CITY's high-end brand, Smith Barney insists on sticking to its long-term adherence. big-box Adhere to the direct store business, hoping to improve the efficiency of the supply chain, improve business level and reduce inventory.

However, when the rents of domestic shops are rising steadily, the malpractice of the big store mode seems to have begun to be reflected in the apparel of American state. In April 11th, the American barn dress was located in the Me&City flagship store of the Huaihailu Road commercial circle of Shanghai gold trading area, which has quietly closed. This flagship store, which is over 2000 square meters, has not been opened for a long time.

Zhuang Tao, a representative of Metersbonwe securities, said in an interview with relevant media that the store should not be reopened, and there was no specific explanation for the specific reasons for closing the store.

In his view, "shops are suitable to open, and they are not suitable for opening. There are many reasons for it. Every year, the United States stores open stores, including direct stores and franchisees, and now there are more than 4700 stores, so opening shops and closing stores are normal."

However, the people concerned said that the contract between Huaihailu Road store and the owner did not expire. The real reason for the closure is that the store has been in a state of loss for a long time. And this time, the United States has been brewing for a long time.

As China's "fast fashion" leader, the reason behind the closure of Metersbonwe is worth our exploration and reference.

At present, Me&City has two flagship stores in Shanghai. One is flagship store on the five floor of Nanjing Road, with an area of 2000 square meters. But the flagship store in Huaihailu Road is not smooth in operation, "because the store has long been in a loss because of a larger difference in positioning with Huaihailu Road business district."

Huaihailu Road business circle is located in the center of Shanghai. In 2010, World Expo further promoted the commercial upgrading of Huaihailu Road. Louis Weedon, Cartire and a number of flagship stores, concept stores and global store clusters of the world's first line brands shine Huaihailu Road, and the flagship store of luxury brands has joined together, so that Huaihailu Road has gradually formed a global flagship store's business mode.

"Five or six years ago and completely different now, the brand that used to suit the masses is the majority. Nowadays, LV, Hermes and other big names almost occupy the whole street. Zhou Long, Metersbonwe brand director, said.

As the international fast fashion brands enter China, the resources of big stores have become very popular, and the rental of shops has begun to rise rapidly.

It is reported that the price of the business circle has risen to 80 yuan per square meter per day, and the resources of shops are still scarce. It is estimated that the rental of more than 2000 square meters of shops in the area will cost about 50 million yuan a year.

Fashion luxury brands can earn 80% of the added value in the face of 20% of the consumer groups. However, the big store mode is different. The big store mode has to face 80% of the consumer groups, but the profit is far less than that of luxury goods. In this process, product categories, inventory management, turnover of goods, retail technology management and other aspects become more complicated. If coordination is not good, there will be inventory pressure.

More importantly, the high cost of shops opened in big gold shops resulted in a low level of efficiency. The brand appeal and brand image created by big stores are one of the reasons why most brands are willing to spend a lot of money on the big store mode. However, when the rental cost of shops rises to a critical point, the loss of brand is much higher than that of invisible.

Zhou Long also attributed most of the reasons to the excessive rent of the shops, and that the sales volume could not support the high rent.

Yin Xufei, a real estate researcher at CIC, pointed out that for retail enterprises, rental costs generally account for about 17%, and the cost of leasing has risen rapidly in the past three years, so its operating costs are also increasing. The rising cost of leasing has been a nationwide problem. At present, the price of the three or four tier cities has risen. This is not only affected by the price of the first and second tier cities, but also to a certain extent affected by the domestic macro environment.

In addition, Me&City also serves as a big store, and in the Huaihailu Road business circle international fast fashion big gathering, "the difference between the Me&City consumption crowd and the consumer group in this business area is gradually emerging." Zhou Long said, this led to the whole street customer group no longer meet their positioning.

In fact, the transformation of commercial circles to luxury brands will result in the "closing tide" of popular brands. In February this year, the Nike store in Maoming, Nanjing West Road, came to the news of closure, while the clothing stores in the same business circle, such as burshilong and Tony-Jeans, were also staged "closing the tide". This collective retreat is also a result of the new round of upgrading that has been brewing in Nanjing West Road business circle.

{page_break}

But in the same trading area, the same location is fast fashion, the same big store mode of international brands, why ZARA, H&M, GAP and other brand fitting rooms lined up long queues, and ME&CITY shop customers?

Lack of fashion elements

After listing in 2008, Metersbonwe worked very hard to launch the me&city brand and find the American drama "jailbreak" actor's endorsement, to launch the urban fashion theme, divided into daytime, party and holiday series, doing a lot and advertising a lot, but the cognition is not very high.

Metersbonwe has always been pleased with the creation of its brand and fashion image. In addition to its move, it has adopted the big store mode, and has always been willing to lose money.

Meters/bonwe brand spokesperson: 2001 summer -2003 summer spokesperson: Aaron Kwok, spokesperson for summer 2003 to now: Jay Chou, 2007 spring -2009 winter spokesperson: Angela Chang, 2007 autumn -2009 summer spokesperson: Willber Pan, 2011 autumn spokesperson: Lin Chiling, and planar model Qiao Renliang Kimi Angela Baby Angelababy.

ME&CITY brand spokesperson: in 2008, he invited the hero of prison break, Wentworth Miller, and Bruna Tenorio, the famous model of Brazil's descendant descent and Asian Asians as the new brand spokesperson. The advertising blockbuster of 2009/10 autumn and winter series was played by Ellen Von Unwerth palm mirror, Agnes Dean, Pei Bei, Cole Mohr, Luke Vogl four IT GIRLS and IT BOYS; and 2010 spring and summer ad Orlanndo Bloom.

Through this list, we can see that these celebrity endorsements are the most fashionable and charismatic forces at that time or today. However, most consumers are not buying the ME&CITY transformation, which generally reflects the lack of fashion sense of the brand.

We can see that in order to compete with H&M, ZARA and other brands, in addition to making brands and word-of-mouth, ME&CITY needs more time to design. How Metersbonwe can be implemented like H&M and ZARA, grasp the fashion sensitivity in design, and quickly apply the latest elements of T platform to new products, which is what the company needs to continue to think about.

"Positioning is not clear. This is the problem of many national brands in recent years. Although Me&city has a higher positioning than Smith Barney, it has been emphasized as a subsidiary brand of Smith Barney. There is no sense of independent brand. " Brand marketing expert Yu Lei told reporters that the channel and brand must match, which means that the location of the shop is not just to follow the golden section, but more importantly, whether the crowd matches or not. The reason for closing the shop should be attributed to the lack of prudence in the site selection.

At present, reports about the closing of the flagship store in the US state and Shanghai have been bubbling with excitement. According to the top state of American bond, after adjustment, the effect of American state clothing digestion inventory is remarkable, and cash flow has also achieved initial success.

Han Zhongwei, Secretary of the US Board of directors, said it expects the inventory will improve in the first half of this year and is expected to return to a reasonable level by the end of this year.

In fact, the development of new stores in 2011 was constantly strengthened, and the sales strategy was adjusted accordingly. In the newly opened shops, the proportion of shops such as community stores and SHOPPINGMALL was increased according to different geographical location and storefront environment. There are more than 4700 stores in the United States, and there are many reasons for the opening of stores every year, including direct stores and franchisees. Therefore, this is the normal behavior of the company.

Me&City's fast fashion Road, whether successful or not, is also useful for other popular brands that want to take the fast fashion route. With the landing of ZARA, H&M and C&A, the survival space of local clothing brands has been squeezed. Local clothing brands still rely on expansion channels as the most direct source of profit growth, and this extensive growth no longer meets the needs of marketization. Me&City's attempt is telling us that in the clothing industry, the accuracy of innovation and positioning is the key.